Voting quotes on election day: they're either hilarious or depressing, as great minds have weighed in over the centuries speculating on whether you should bother getting to your polling place or not.

Here are some of our favorites by the powerful and intelligent. Have a favorite we missed? Let us know about it.

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Voting Quotes

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"Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half."

"The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting."

"A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user."

"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal."

"I have never voted in my life...I have always known and understood that the idiots are in a majority so it's certain they will win."

"Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything."

"Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.”

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost."

"All we have to do is get out and vote, while it's still legal, and we will wash those crooked warmongers out of the White House."

"It is useless for sheep to pass a resolution in favor of vegetarianism while wolves remain of a different opinion."

"Thinking is not to agree or disagree. That's voting."

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."

"Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'"

On Undecided Voters: "To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes​ down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. 'Can I interest you in the chicken?​' she asks. 'Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?' To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked."

"Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do."

"In politics we presume that everyone who knows how to get votes knows how to administer a city or a state. When we are ill...we do not ask for the handsomest physician, or the most eloquent one."

"In reality, there is no such thing as not voting: you either vote by voting, or you vote by staying home and tacitly doubling the value of some Diehard's vote."